Super Smash Bros: Save File Not Found
by Adrael79
Summary: This world is dead. This world has been reforged. In the aftermath of a forced reset, the Smashers have been placed in lives not their own. It falls to an amnesiac anomaly(no, not Robin) to fix everything. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Prologue: The End of the Beginning

_Adrael79 presents_

Super Smash Bros: Reset

Prologue: The End of the Beginning

Princess Peach paced the inside of the sanctum angerly. As the only one with any tactical experience after Robin...fell, she needed someone to guard the the final chip, but why did it have to _her,_ goddess darn it! She wanted to be out on the front lines fighting the forces of the Core! She wanted to take revenge against the Core for taking almost everyone she cared about away from her! Bowser, Link, _Mario._

She gazed the save data chip hovering in the center of the room. Such a small thing to decide the fate of the universe. There were only four chips in world, and if all of them were destroyed, the universe would cease to exist. Everyone hadn't noticed what was happening until it was too late, and before she had known it, the Smash Bros (or what was left of them) had assembled at Delta Fortress to guard the last one.

Peach's internal reverie was interrupted when Palutena contacted her mentally.

 _"They've breached our defenses. Get ready."_ A moment later Palutena teleported herself, Lucina, Ness and Captain Falcon into the sterile white sanctum.

"Wait, where's Luigi?" Peach asked frantically. Falcon shook his head forlornly. The normally bombastic and up-beat F-Zero racer had become morose and quiet after the loss of Samus.

"No, no, no" Peach collapsed on the floor. First Mario and now Luigi were gone. Everyone was leaving her. She just wanted to end it all. She just wanted it to end! Wait a minute. Those weren't her thoughts!

 _ **"It was worth a shot, I guess. Ah well. Bowser, smash."**_ She heard the telepathic 'voice' of Lucario speak before all Minusworld broke loose. The raging form of Bowser burst through the walls of the sanctum. But the corruption was so far in him that his normally yellow scales had turned a dark shade of purple. Beside him was the corrupted Lucario, surrounded by a purple aura.

 **"Hope we're not too late to the party."** Peach whirled around to the mysterious speaker. It was Sheik. If Peach ignored the purple tint to her eyes, she could imagine Zelda was normal. But that fragile illusion was shattered the moment she spoke.

 **"Let's be honest, there's no way they're walking away-" "-from this fight."** When Peach looked at Zelda's (it's the Core, not Zelda, she reminded herself) interruptor, her heart skipped a beat. It was Mario, looking as handsome as the day she fell in love with him. Maybe he wasn't taken. Maybe he escaped, and came here to save her!

 **"But you don't need to die with them. Join us. Join me.** " He pleaded. Peach was about to rush into his arms, when she looked into his eyes. Unlike his real eyes, always filled with a spark of joy and kindness, these eyes were soulless purple pools.

"G-Get away from me!" Peach stuttered.

 ***Sigh* "You always wanted to do things the hard way"** Zelda muttered, and struck at the chip with one of her needles. Peach lunged toward it, and felt the chip safely in her hand, and the needle in her chest. Why weren't they helping her?! Her question was answered as she saw Falcon dueling with a twisted Ganondorf, Palutena fending off a corrupted Link, Lucina defending against Ike's furious onslaught, and Ness standing still. No doubt he was protecting everyone from Lucario's psychic attacks.

"You'll never take this chip from me..." Peach growled through the pain.

 **"Let us ask you a question, Peach."** For all the horrors Peach had seen the Core commit, she had never seen it debate with a victim. At first she assumed Zelda was speaking. But then she realized the voice was coming from all around, from all the corrupted smashers.

 **"Why are you fighting this? It's the five of you against an army. There will be no happy ending if you escape, for you will be hunted by the best. And what do you have to fight for? Your love is dead. Your best friend is dead. Who are you fighting for? Them?"**

Peach looked at Palutena, a goddess of light forced to live in darkness; Falcon, and bounty hunter who lost the most valuable treasure of his life; Lucina, a princess who lost everyone she cared about twice over; and Ness, a child who had his childhood ripped away from him with all the subtlety of a train engine.

Peach had no one to live for, no chance of living, and no hope. As she crushed the chip in her hand, she felt unimaginable despair. And as all existence ended, that despair was the last thing Peach knew.

Error

Save file not found

Start New Game?

 **Yes** /No

* * *

Well, that was dark. But don't worry, it gets happier. Probably. So, this is my new story! This was just supposed to be a quick 200 word intro, but here we are! What are your thoughts? Am I too wordy? Not wordy enough? Do I convey feelings? Let me know in a review!

Thanks for reading, Adrael out.


	2. Chapter 1: A Different Awakening

**Big Thanks to Lattemi, Wingah, CyanGaveUp42, and Shiny Victini 4 for the reviews, favs, and follows!**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Different Awakening

Lucina awoke in a wide open plain of grass. In another world, she may have simply wished to take a nap, but Lucina's purpose was far different. Her companions, the only people she had called friends, had sacrificed themselves in order to buy her time to allow her to go back in time and fix the future. And here she was, at-where was she? As she got to her feet, the sole landmark in this grassy plain was a wide road, which led to a city(at least she thought it was a city, it was too far to tell). It certainly didn't seem like Past Ylisse, but most historical records were destroyed by the Fell Dragon, so it _might_ be. In any case, she wouldn't complete her mission by standing around, so she began to walk towards the city. What was her mission? Simple. To kill the Fell Dragon's host, Robin, in the past, to defeat him once and for all in the future.

It was a beautiful day out, but Lucina refused to remove any piece of her clothing, least of all her mask. It reminded her of...It was best if no one looked at her face and compared her to her father. It would be hard enough to make a believable backstory without a supposed relation to the Prince of Ylisse.

The long walk to the city was the perfect time for some reflection. Unfortunately, that was the last thing she wanted to do. Heh. That sounded like something Gerome would say. Wait- _ **Gerome**_ _-distant. Has more to say than he seems._ _ **Owain**_ _-Over-theatrical. Always ready to fight and protect what he cared about._ _**Inigo**_ _-Shameless flirt. Always wore a smile. Helped keep spirits aloft._ _ **Severa**_ _-prickly. Believed she would never be as good as her mother. She was._ _ **Cynthia**_ _-_ STOP IT! Suddenly Lucina wasn't walking on a sunny day, she was watching Risen strip Kjelle, Noire, Cynthia and Nah of their weapons and execute them. She was watching Owain and Inigo be torn apart by Risen to buy time for Brady and Yarne to escape. She watched Gerome, Severa, and Laurent be incinerated by the Fell Dragon while Lucina performed the ritual to go back in time. Tears were streaming down Lucina's face. "I'm so sorry." She whispered.

* * *

Pit Icarus hated driving. Which was not exactly beneficial, considering he was a mailman. Oh, sure, he managed to get his job done by biking around his small hometown of Sky, but once he got a 'promotion', he had to work in Smash City, meaning that unless he wanted to spend literally all day biking, he would have to drive. What's so bad about driving? Well, Pit's lifelong dream was to fly. Stupid, he knew, but zooming around on a bicycle was the closest Pit could get to flying. So, once he bought a metal, mobile, sweaty, confined, the list goes on, prison(mail truck), he began the long drive from Sky to Smash City. It was a pretty long and boring drive, as most of it was driving down Highway 01. So Pit had plenty of time to think. The one meager upside to this promotion was it gave a chance to reconnect with his brother.

When Pit and his twin brother were found on the doorstep of the orphanage, the only thing to their identity was a scrap of paper with the word 'Pit' on it. While both brothers were named Pit, his brother's darker hair and red eyes earned him the name 'Dark Pit'. Yeah, the orphanage kids did not have the most active imagination. The Pit brothers were inseparable, at least until high school. While Pit excelled in everything he put his mind to, and Dark Pit...didn't.

The peaceful, lengthy drive down Highway 01 was complicated by some kind of animal lying on the road. As Pit got closer, he saw it wasn't an animal at all, but rather a person. Pit wasn't about to let a person lay on the road! It was dangerous! As he got out to check on them, he saw it was a guy?(Pit honestly couldn't tell the mysterious figures gender) wearing some clothes out of a medieval storybook, and was that a sword?! Crazy cosplayer or not, they still needed help! He picked them up, where a strange mask fell of their face. Pit picked it up, admired the craftsmanship and pocketed it. He could give it back to them later. The blue haired swordsman's(woman's?) face was slick with tears, and as he was carrying them he could have sworn he heard them whisper "I'm so sorry".

* * *

Lucina woke up in a strange chair. Where was she? She was looking out a piece of glass resembling a window. _She was in a truck_. She realized. How did she know that? Her answer was revealed when she had memories of living, of growing up, in this strange world spread over her real memories like a thin sheet of paper. While they weren't real, Lucina was grateful for them, as now she knew the customs and history of this world. Was this one of the side effects of time travel?

"Oh, you're awake." Lucina turned toward the speaker. He had chocolate brown hair and sky blue eyes. He was wearing a yellow and purple uniform with a strange W logo and a name tag: Pit Icarus. Pit had a strange boyish quality, even though he was obviously old enough to drive- _almost like-_ No, she wouldn't think about him. She would analyze the situation first. There would be time for weeping after the mission was completed. Uh-oh. Pit had still been talking while she had zoned out!

"-and that's when I saw you passed out on the road. I'm not a doctor, so I thought I would take you to Smash city to get checked out. Uh, why _were_ you passed out on the road?" Lucina needed to think of a story fast.

"Well, I was walking to Smash City. I need to sort out some family problems." Lucina answered, thankful he hadn't asked about her clothes. Besides, it wasn't _totally_ a lie. Robin was always a friend of Chrom, her father, so technically her mission was a family problem. Wait, no zoning out. Pit nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I've got some family problems too. My brother ran away after we graduated high school, only notice was a note he left saying he went to Smash city, and not to follow him." He replied downheartedly. "Hey, uh, if you see him, could you let him know that I'm in town and I still care about him? My new address is 1986 Angel Drive. He looks exactly like me, but with black hair and red eyes. Please? My brother can't turn down a pretty girl." Pit winked, and Lucina couldn't hold back a small chuckle. She thought about it. Her mission still took priority, but it couldn't hurt. Right?

"Sure. It's no trouble really." At least compared to killing the closest friend of one of the most feared warriors in history, who was also her father? Telling some random guy some stuff should be one of the easiest things she ever did.

"Thanks so much! I make it up to you, I promise!" Pit followed up his enthusiastic exclamation with a contagious smile. Lucina thought he looked pretty cute when he was smiling. "Oh what do you know? Here we are. Smash City!" Pit said. "Oh, before I forget, here's your mask!" He fished in his pocket (which Lucina thought was pretty risky while driving). "Here ya go! Do you want me to drop you off anywhere?"

Lucina thought about the current date for a second and looked at her Other Memories. "My brother would probably be in college now. I'd have to look around. Could you drop me off at the library?" Yes, she called Chrom her brother, but it really was the best alibi for now.

"Alright. See you later!" Pit cheerily waved at her as she stepped out of the mail truck.

"Yeah. See ya." Lucina waved back. First order of business: find some new clothes so she doesn't look like something out of a fairy tale.

* * *

Rock woke up in his bed. The 10 year old sighed. Time for another day of drudgery and busy work (school). While he wasn't a prodigy, most of school consisted repeating the same facts over and over in the hopes of memorization, which was not very fun for Rock's photographic memory. He slowly walked to his older brother, Blues', bed in order to wake him up. Blues got up and walked to the kitchen to make breakfast and left Rock to wake up his sister, Roll. They had all done this routine so many times they could do it with machine-like precision. Rock didn't even need an alarm clock. Their father, Thomas Light, had undoubtedly left to one of his many part-time jobs. After all, it wasn't easy supporting a family of four as a washed-up robot scientist. Rock got dressed and saw Roll feeding their pets: Rush the dog, Tango the cat, and Beat the bird.

"I'll see you later!" Rock said to his older brother as he and Roll dashed out the door of their apartment and down the stairs. When he exited the building and headed toward the school bus, he flinched internally. _Here we go again_. He thought as he prepared himself for the trial known as school.

* * *

 **Well, we are introduced to 3 of our 4 main characters. Now, I know not much happens in this chapter but it's kinda important to establish the characters. Now, I'm going to tell you how non-human characters are implemented in this new save file because it's important. They're human, but will keep some of their original characteristics. For example Rock(Megaman) has a photographic memory to reference his ability to copy the abilities of his enemies, and Charizard will be a human with some slight pyromaniac tendencies. And before you ask why Lucina isn't fit into a role like everyone else, it will be explained later.**

 **Thanks for reading, please leave a review and tune in next time for Chapter 2: Bug in the System!**

 **Adrael out!**


	3. Chapter 2: Bug in the System

Chapter 2: Bug in the System

Rock stepped in to the WarioBucks coffee shop and looked around. This was sort of the unofficial hangout for Rock and his friends after school. Although on the outside it looked like any other money-grubbing WarioBucks, on the inside it was so much more.

"Hey Rock!" A raven-haired boy with a red cap yelled and waved. This was was Ness Onett,, the laid back baseball champion of Smashville elementary. "Over here!" He was sitting in a circular booth in the corner with Link "Toon" Outset, Lucas Tazmily, Link Dekotre, Andrew Villager, Kirby Star and some orange-haired girl.

"This is Orange. Her family moved in yesterday and I thought we could help her get acquainted with the town." Ness continued. Rock thought about this as he slid into the end of the booth, next to the new girl. Yesterday Blues had said something about a guy named Blue(now _that's_ going to be confusing) with a younger sister being introduced in his homeroom class, so Orange's story checked out, but Rock still got the the feeling she was hiding something.

"Hai!" Kirby interrupted. He was the only person not in middle school, being a rambunctious preschooler who joined the friend group out of sheer force of will. Being cute didn't hurt his chances either.

"So anyway, those police over there are Officers Aran and Falcon." Ness continued, ignoring both Toon and Rock. "Falcon is pretty cool, but don't ever talk to Aran while using her first or last name. Just call her Officer, or Ma'am, or just don't talk to her at all.. She's … intense." He shuddered.

"That guy eating the mushroom omelette? He's Mr. Mario. He's the best plumber in this neighborhood of Smash City. Actually, he's the only plumber in the neighborhood. Funny story, he once fought off an escaped zoo gorilla with nothing but a hammer and his wits. So, the gorilla had cornered him and his girlfriend on a construction site, when he grabs a nearby hammer, and viciously attacks the girder that he and gorilla are standing on. It becomes dislodged, and they both fall down from the height of four floors. The gorilla recovers in a month or so with a couple broken bones, but Mario stays in a coma, until his girlfriend visits the hospital and gives a heartwarming speech about- "

"Bull****, Onett." Link finally spoke up. Link was a conundrum to Rock. He was not fun in any way. He kept to himself, the only interaction he had with human beings in his classroom was when he turned in assignments to his teachers. The only way he had talked to the friend group at all, let alone joined them, was when they had needed his help for an art project.

Link was constantly drawing. Sometimes he drew creatures and objects out of nightmares, and other things. Once Rock peeked into Link's notebook, and saw a drawing of Blues wearing his sunglasses and scarf, and some kind of armor. As far as Rock knew, Link had never seen Blues in his life.

He was boring and was never surprised by anything. That's not to say he was mean, he just never seemed to care about anything or anyone, which is why him interrupting Ness was such a shock.

Everyone looked at Link in surprise. He continued "The government tested an experimental resurrection formula on him, which is why-" Oh. Right. Link was also a conspiracy theorist who constantly spouted garbage about dead universes or something.

"Oh take a rest Link, we've been over this." Toon groaned and facepalmed. Toon was the 'straight man' to Link's quiet craziness. Although they kind of looked alike, you would never have guessed they were cousins.

Ness continued. "Well, uh, that's the chef of the cafe. Everyone calls her Mama because no one has figured out her name, and believe me, we tried."

Orange had been nodding politely during Ness' monologue, but here she spoke up.

"Have you tried just asking her?" she asked patiently.

"Well...Not exactly...we were..uh..looking for a challenge.." Ness muttered and trailed off.

"But wouldn't that be the first thing you tried?"

"Well, we're, uh, very talented middle schoolers, and we considered this a test of our skill...Oh man! I can't believe I forgot to introduce my friends and their talents!

Rock over there has a photographic memory, , Link spouts nonsense and draws photograph-quality images, Andrew is a strategic mastermind, no one can stay mad at Lucas, Kirby has a bottomless stomach, I'm good with people and uh, Toon… is good at sleeping, I guess. And as for me, let's just say if I wasn't good with people, these buffoons would have killed each other long ago. Looking at you Link" Ness chuckled at his own joke, while everyone except Orange and Link was giggled like a pack of schoolchildren. Which they were.

Orange opened her mouth to say something, but what happened next would ensure they would never hear what she said.

At the other end of the cafe, a man walked in. This in itself was not remarkable because people were constantly entering and exiting the cafe, but this man drew everyone's attention.

He was tall and scrawny, you could see his ribs through his dirty grey tank top, and he looked as though he hadn't eaten in a week. His head was shaved except for a messy purple mohawk. While most people looked at him once and went back to their business, Rock couldn't keep his eyes off the man. Something in his eyes gave Rock a very bad feeling.

The purple-haired man caught Rock's gaze and gave a horrible grin. His teeth were filed into triangles. Rock's thoughts on why anyone would do this to themselves were abruptly cut off, when the man walked into the coffee line and held out his hand toward Rock at the other end of the room.

Rock's reflexes took over and he dived from the corner booth onto the floor as a strange metallic tendril flew over his head. With a sickening thought, he realized if he hadn't moved, he would have been impaled in the chest. Instead the tendril was lodged in Orange's arm, which was slightly better, but not by much.

Then just as fast as it came, the tendril retracted and Orange was yanked by her bleeding arm into Purple-Hair's waiting hand. Then he spoke in a low, gravelly voice "Nobody move, or my next attack hits a lot more than orange-hair's shoulder!" This entire exchange had taken about 5 seconds.

A strange phenomena that Lucina noted was that after Pit dropped her off at the library, people did not seem to notice her. At first, she thought they were self-absorbed, or simply not too bright. But when the same people who interacted and reacted with total strangers walked past her in total ignorance, she realized something was wrong.

People just didn't notice her unless she spoke to them, and even then, it took a while for them to see her. It bothered her for a long time, until she realized that she went unnoticed even when she was stealing stuff. In a perfect world, Lucina would have preferred not to steal, but since the she didn't have the currency of this strange new world. (or any world. Turns out you don't think about money that much during the apocalypse.)

With her newfound "talent" she obtained "normal"-Lucina's fashion sense left something to be desired-clothes, as well as sunglasses, a cello case to hide her sword, and a laptop. With all of these, she looked a normal down-on-her-luck college student studying at a cafe with free wifi, if anyone noticed her at all. She had almost found the location of her target, the past version of the monster that destroyed her world, one Robin Sterling, staying at the dorms in Smash City Community College. She just needed to find his room number and kill him. While she was thinking of ways to find that information, the purple-haired stranger strolled into the cafe.

While the tendril thing caught everyone by surprise, and while he told everyone to stay back, she was having an intense inner dialogue over whether to interfere.

 _He'll see me if so much as reach for my sword._

 _No one's noticed you so far, why would they start now?_

 _If I interfere, they'll definitely notice, and I'll have a lot of unwanted attention._

 _If you don't interfere, Orange-hair will have worse problems than unwanted attention!_ Lucina sighed and quietly opened her cello case and took out the Falchion. She had chosen a booth in the corner, away from the entrance. She had enjoyed because it was farther from the usual crowds, but now it worked against her because she had more ground to cover before reaching Purple Hair. She murmured a silent prayer to Naga before sprinting towards him.

Naga must have heard her prayer, because no one reacted to her until she brought the Falchion down on the arm that held the orange-haired girl. It sliced cleanly through the elbow, the orange-haired girl falling to the ground and taking a rasping breath. The purple-haired was unfazed, with a tendril emerging from his other wrist and shooting straight for Lucina. She parried the tendril and cut through his other arm at the elbow. The man seemed surprised at this, but strangely didn't express any pain. His eyes widened and he hesitated for one second before Lucina's world was filled with pain and thunder.

Samus should have recognized him. She should have gunned that bastard down the moment he stepped into the building. But no, whoever was in charge of the universe was dead-set on making this day as torturous as possible.

It had started like a normal day, with Samus entering the run down Smash City Police Department at 7:00 sharp. She found herself wondering why they even bothered funding the Police Department at all when everyone knew it was just a formality. Smash City crime rates were at an all time low. She greeted a passing night shift officer, Ike Greil, who simply mumbled back. After dealing with 'Grumpy Greil' as Douglas called him, she continued to her office, where Douglas himself, the department jokester, exercise enthusiast, and her boyfriend was waiting.

That was where the normality ended. She knew something was up with Douglas waiting at all. He was the laziest person she knew. Set an alarm for 6:00, he'd sleep in a half-hour, get dressed in the car, eat breakfast while walking into the building and still manage to come in on time as a presentable human being. So why was he here early? Whatever the reason, Samus invariably preferred this to her normally boring paperwork that filled up her day.

"Hey Sam, so, uh, since it's been a year since we started dating, so I, uh got something for you." He stammered and held out a small white cardboard box. This was the second thing that tipped Samus off. Douglas was infuriating for many reasons, but being shy was not one of them. Samus kept an eye out for any potential life threatening objects and didn't see any, but any thought of danger when she saw what was in the box. Marshmallow Extra-Tart Raw Ovoid Donuts, or Metroids, if you were the kind of person who messed around with acronyms. Commissioner Emmeryn Ylisse once said that Samus singlehanded ate all the metroids in Smash City. It wasn't a joke.

Douglas saw Samus' expression and showed his signature smirk. "And these aren't any normal Metroids. These are straight from the Chozo family bakery." Ever since the Chozos went out of business a couple years back, they simply stopped making their godly baked goods. Another weird thing about today. How did someone as impatient and arrogant as Douglas convince the Chozos to bake something for him? There was the possibility he was lying, but that vanished as soon as Samus tasted the first one. They were Chozo metroids alright!

She didn't get Chozo metroids every day, she should save them… but she hadn't had metroids in years, and she was a bit hungry, now that she thought of it. Well, now it was a matter of health, she rationalized, nibbling on another metroid.

As she munched on her fourth one, the last one in the box, she bit into something hard. What in h*** was this s***! As the marshmallow dissolved around the object, it felt like...some kind of coin, or perhaps a ring. A RING?!

Suddenly all the discrepancies of the morning fell into place to reveal the big picture, and she never saw it coming. Was Douglas going to propose? Even now she still couldn't believe it. She seemed to notice the smallest details now. There was Douglas with barely hidden anticipation, Ike leaning on the stairwell wall with an air of disinterest that belied his staring at the group, and Commissioner Emmeryn with her trademark knowing smirk.

The worst part was that it made sense. The Chozos would have made the metroids for _her_. And this was just about the only event important enough for Douglas to drag his well-defined a** out of bed early.

Samus was so busy ruminating the facts she almost swallowed the ring. She needed to buy time. She hid the ring under her tongue and made an exaggerated swallowing motion.

"'scuse me, think I swallowed something hard, needta go to the bathroom." She muttered and scurried off before she could see Douglas' expression.

She avoided Douglas the rest of the day(not that hard, as she and Douglas patrolled separate zones, at least until they met at the Wariobuck's. It was at the edge of their zones to patrol, so after their separate morning patrols, they would take a break, have a coffee, and discuss dumb stuff. Of course, that was on a normal day, not today, so when Samus saw Douglas' face all the thoughts she had been conveniently dodging came rushing back with a vengeance.

Should she say yes? Was she ready for married life? Was _Douglas_? Could she accept being tied down to Douglas, of all people? While she and Douglas were close, it was still going to be a huge leap to living together. Was this all an elaborate prank Samus was overthinking?

It was thoughts like that that ran through Samus' head, and she couldn't focus on her iced coffee, Douglas' distracted attempts at small talk, or anything else for that matter. That was the reason she didn't shoot that dirty bastard the moment he stepped into the Wariobucks. Once she recognized him he had already channeled his inner eldritch abomination and taken that weird orange haired girl hostage. The reason she wanted to kill him with extreme prejudice? Well, it's pretty simple. He murdered her parents.

Samus didn't have many vivid memories of her childhood except for one. When a small time thief/homeless guy murdered her parents in an alleyway because they forgot their wallets at home, and only spared her because he ran out of bullets . The Chozo family found her crying over her parent's dead bodies and adopted her as their own. When she was old enough to join the police in any capacity she checked the records and found her criminal.

His name was Scott Ridley, a robber who pulled off his crimes by pretending to be homeless and helpless. Unfortunately for Samus, he disappeared shortly after the incident with Samus' parents, so she never got her revenge on that sorry excuse for a man. That still left the question of what the **** he was doing with robot tentacles in a coffee shop!

RIdley's stalemate abruptly ended when a blue-haired girl came out of nowhere and sliced off both of his arms and he was distracted long enough for Samus and Douglas to draw their firearms. They were just standard issue MM sidearms or 'Megabuster' but they did their job.

At least, that's what Samus thought until Ridley took two full ammo clips to the chest. They only seemed to annoy him, even though Samus saw most of them hit in his chest area. His wounds were even bleeding! Why wouldn't he DIE!

Ridley seemed to notice the police duo after that, and took his sweet time sauntering over. His smug grin revealed that he knew that couldn't hurt him, and they knew it too.

Suddenly Samus wasn't a qualified, skilled and confident policewoman, she was a scared little girl watching what mattered most to her being ripped apart. Ridley being a nightmarish abomination didn't help either. That wasn't an exaggeration, as new tentacles sprouted from his arms, split into strands, and began weaving themselves into monstrous, skeletal hands.

Douglas, on the other hand, charged in and began fighting Ridley in hand to hand combat. Samus could only watch in horror as Ridley kept his terrifyingly slow pace. All of Douglas' years of police training and street fighting were useless against the biomechanical monster, at least until Douglas decided to do a basic martial arts throw. Ridley had been ignoring Douglas, so Ridley wasn't prepared for it, and he flew into a table and landed face first in someone's soup. _You've just made him mad!_ Samus wanted to scream, but she was still petrified by fear.

Ridley's counter attack was so fast that if you blinked, you missed it. He picked up Douglas by the neck and slammed him into the cheap tile floor so hard it cracked. He then picked up Douglas by the arm and threw him through the front window of the Wariobucks.

Ridley seemed to look around for something in the horrified crowd before storming past the terrified Samus, muttering something about 'Mother will have to be satisfied with this one', before stepping through the broken window, roughly grabbing an unconscious Douglas, and...were those strands on his back weaving themselves into..wings? Just as he took flight, Samus wanted to dismiss the whole day as fever dream, except for that small voice of reason, slowly returning, in the back of her head that told her it was all real, and all her fault.

To tell the truth, Dark Pit Icarus had never expected this day to be normal. After all, finding 5$ on the street as a homeless kid is like finding a lode of gold in a mine…well it's less, but it's still enough to buy a coffee. 2 coffees if they're small and at a Wariobucks, so that was where Dark went, especially since he hadn't eaten in 2 days. Sure the life of a homeless young adult sucked sometimes, but he would never trade in his freedom for money...or a warm bed… or actual food….Okay so he didn't want to stay homeless, but who's going to hire a young adult with no references and an attitude?

Dark could taste the deliciously warm coffee in his mind as he ordered, or he was until Tentacle Man showed up and sent the day to h*** and back. *sigh* He wasn't going to get coffee now.

Even if Tentacles left without shutting down the cafe(unlikely), the cops would take all witnesses into questioning, including him, and then they'd find out about his past, and BAM! Back to the orphanage for you! This was a sticky situation, and Dark prided himself on finding his way out of sticky situations, which terrified him even more because it was a lose-lose situation. Run, and get killed by Tentacles; stay, and go back to the system he so desperately tried to escape.

Dark's internal panicking was shattered by the invisible girl. Well, she wasn't invisible, per say, but is was strange how he didn't notice her until she lopped off Tentacles' arms with a f****** sword! Then the cops started shooting, and she disappeared. Now Dark was suspicious, which took his mind off his panic because, he could see where she was a second before. People don't just disappear! Especially after getting shell-shocked by two guns at point blank range! Seriously, those things were loud. Dark hoped he wasn't deaf after the two cops' trigger-happy display.

Dark nearly jumped when he felt a tap on his foot. After checking to see if Tentacles left, he slowly crouched. He could be imagining things, but you couldn't be too careful when there was an invisible girl on the loose! Suddenly, he saw her. She was on the ground, holding her side, her blue hair matted with blood. She mouthed something that Dark couldn't hear because of the ringing in his ears.

"Can I get some help over here!" He shouted, before he realized his mistake. If he drew attention to himself, that would lead to questions, which would lead to…

"It appears no one else noticed. I'm Rock, by the way." A black-haired middle school kid walked up. "I would guess we only saw her because we noticed she disappeared in the first place. But enough half-baked theories. She needs help." He continued. Dark did not know what to make of this kid. Him and the kid carried the girl out, holding her shoulders and legs. Everyone was stunned by what just went down and focusing on the ambulance taking that Orange girl, so they probably wouldn't have noticed them even if they could see Blue girl.

They just unceremoniously plopped her down onto a park bench just outside. Strangely, she was only wearing one glove. Dark wouldn't have given it much thought, but when the kid

brushed against her bare hand, he gasped and recoiled.

"You alright, kid?" Dark asked, but the kid started screaming and writhing on the ground. Now he was attracting attention, Dark hated to leave him or the girl...who disappeared, leaving a note. People were noticing, Dark needed to leave. He grabbed the note and faded into the crowd.

Director Maxwell Hand was not pleased. After nearly 10 years of protecting this fledgeling dimension from otherworldly threats, some wet-behind-the-ears biotechnoterrorists had to go and muck things up. Now, he had to intimidate his way into a hospital just to get access to the two patients that were suffering a fate worse than death. Awakening. Despite the optimistic term, one who is being awakened is having their mind and body forcibly overwritten by a alternate universe version of themselves. Maxwell had thankfully never had to deal with one, but his lucky streak ended today, when he had to somehow fix two.

"Wait outside. Make sure I am not disturbed." Maxwell ordered his two guards, Simon and Gann. They had saved his life many times each, and if something happened to Maxwell, they could take charge of the Department of Extradimensional Events in his stead.

The kid(Rock, as Maxwell checked his file) was currently strapped into a hospital bed struggling against his bonds with a crazed pained look in his eye. His entire right arm was replaced with a strange blue metal substance which was spreading up his arm. Maxwell frowned in sympathy. Transmutation was one of the most painful processes on earth, even when you didn't take the psychological effects into account. He had to end this quickly.

He slipped off one of his immaculate white gloves, and felt the power of Order at his fingertips. He could see all the strands of reality, this boy was shining like a lighthouse with otherworldly energy. Maxwell felt the fabric of reality, and slowly, deliberately begins peeling the energy away from the boys form. He can feel _it_ at the edges of his conciousness, begging for Maxwell to let it in, for it to _fix_ things. Maxwell tries to ignore it, but keeping the boy alive and well takes all his focus, and for just one measly second, _it_ takes control. But the damage is done. _It's_ used the power of creation to further its goals, and Maxwell knows it. But finally, Maxwell separates the energy, slips it into his pocket dimension, and dons his glove.

As is vision returns to normal, he sees the boy settle into a peaceful sleep. He can worry about _it_ later. For now he has another life to save. That's what he thinks anyway, until a crestfallen doctor splattered with orange bursts through the room door. How did they get past Simon and Gann? But such trivial thoughts are banished from his mind the doctor deliver his message.

"She didn't make it. She..she just exploded...We couldn't do anything…" the doctor whimpers. And for the first time since this dimension existed, Maxwell gets the feeling that the peace he gave everything to maintain is going to shatter

Elsewhere

Smash City Central Park

On a message, in a bottle, in a crater, in a gathering crowd, the following message rested, waiting for some unfortunate soul to read it and take action:

 _My fellow Smashers,_

 _As you all know, I will not live forever, and I do not wish to hand the reins of our glorious nation to someone incompetent. So, I have decided upon a test of skill, a contest, if you will. Somewhere, in our beautiful capital city of Smash City, lies a computer chip. But not any computer chip, oh no, this one is...well...you'll know it when you see it. Anyway, whosoever possesses the cunning, strength, and resources necessary to find this chip_ _ **and destroy it**_ _will inherit the position of High President of Smash Kingdom, and all of my worldly possessions. I wish you all good luck, and good hunting!_

 _Very Sincerely Yours,_

 _High President Marth Altea of Smash Kingdom,_

[Here is the official seal of Smash Kingdom Bureau of Management, and the one of the Department of Finances, and one for the Department of Health, as well as a seal for every major administrative branch of Smash Kingdom.]

Arc 1: Familiar Faces

START!

Well, I finally got around to uploading this next chapter. It was never supposed to be this long, but I hope it makes up for my lazy self dragging this out. In other news, I thought I'd share some status on my other crappy works.

Agents of Halberd: This one is going on a hiatus until I finish my Smash bros story, then I might rewrite what little there is. But it's not going to be for a while.

Fire Emblem Heroes Hardmode: This one is dead. I have lost all interest in continuing this fic, partly due to how Intelligent Systems handled Heroes' characters, and partly because I'm not enjoying Heroes as much as I used to. I might add a pseudo-chapter detailing my unfinished plan for the story, or a couple of one-shots with character interaction later, but that's going to be it.

Smash Bros: It's not all bad news, though. I'm going to be dedicating most of my free time to this fic(which isn't very much. I blame school). I will try to get some timely updates, just..uh..don't expect much.

I realize most of you probably don't care about this, I just felt like giving some closure to everyone whos been decent enough to read my so-so fanfiction.

And speaking of my readers, thank you so much! You guys motivated me to get off my ass and finally upload this chapter! A big thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed!

Until next chapter,

Adrael79


	4. Chapter 3: It Begins

Arc 1: Familiar Faces

Chapter 3: It Begins

11:00 AM

Wario was surprised, and it took a lot to surprise this grizzled old crook! ..er… honest businessman. It was on every news channel, every blog, h***, he had even received snail mail regarding High President Altea's note. Alleged note, Wario grumbled. In all of the time he had had the misfortune of knowing that weak, insipid, goody-two shoes that Smash Kingdom called president, Altea had never been reckless or stupid, of which this note was both! But everyone else had left their common sense at home, because it was a monkey house out there! Everyone, from the oldest veterans to the youngest schoolchildren, were driving themselves insane trying to find the 'computer chip'. Despite Not-Altea's description that 'you'd know it when you see it', all the wild-goose-chasers(as Wario had taken to call them) had gone around smashing everything that even _looked_ like a computer.

Watching the madness go down from his main office in Wariotower, Wario's first thought was "How can I profit off of this?" The answer was obvious, Wario realized as he sent a call down to his factory manager, Jimmy Thang.

"Thang!" Wario barked, barely holding in his anticipation. "Begin mass-production of...Model Gold!"

* * *

2:00 PM

"VP Harkinianl! What's your opinion on your alleged contest?"

"Vice-President! Tell us the credibility of the Central Park Letter!"

"Ms. Harkinian! If someone destroys the so-called chip, how will you react?"

"Ms. Vice President! Will you go on a date with me?"

"Attention everyone! The President is not at liberty to discuss matters of the state, but the Government of Smash Kingdom can affirm that the note is a hoax. Please refrain from doing anything rash." Vice-President Zelda Harkinian deflected the reporter's inquiries as she heads toward her office.

"Well, this is a grade-A clusterf***." Her blue-haired escort muttered. He was the cop that had been assigned to escort her to the Grand City Hall, and he was not pleased.

"F***ing politicians and their stunts. I bet you engineered this thing so people would actually care who gets elected next month. But noooo, I'm stuck here with some stuck-up assistant instead of being out there actually helping people."

Normally Zelda would retort with some clever wordplay(How dare he call her an 'assistant'!), but she just couldn't find a response. High President Marth hadn't been seen since he went home three nights ago, and Zelda didn't want to incite a panic by reporting that the trusted President had gone missing after a whatever-the-coffee-shop-thing-was attack. Of course, that was a non-issue, as everyone in Smash City had gone crazy anyway after finding the note.

The note. The source of all of Zelda's current problems, of which there were quite a lot. The worst part was, Zelda didn't even know about the legitimacy of the note. She wanted to discard it as just an elaborate hoax(Stranger things had happened before, after all), but Marth had seemed a bit depressed lately, and talked about how no one cared about what happened in 'the high places' , and Marth had never been the most conventional High President…

No, if the note wasn't true, than she needed do dispel this hoax as quickly as possible, which meant finding High President so he could officially disprove the note. And if..if it was true, then Zelda needed to find that chip as soon as possible to make sure someone who actually cared about the people would remain in power, which meant finding the only person who knew where the chip was, who would be the person who hid it in the first place…

"Officer, uh, Greil!" Zelda shouted, trying to speak with authority. "You say you want to help people in this mess? You can do that by finding the one person who can. High President Altea!"

Greil responds to her rousing speech with a raised brow and sour expression. "I'd love to lady, but I've got orders to stay here and protect you. Orders are orders." His previous anger seems to have boiled down to resigned apathy.

"Well, you'll still be protecting me. After all, I'm going too."

* * *

7:00 PM

Maxwell Hand had not slept in the past 3 days. Oh, he has entered his hibernation pod, but rather than sleeping, he had been formulating a plan and using surveillance magic to monitor the situation. After _it_ had used to power of Order to do...something, Maxwell had been trying his best to find exactly what was changed, until he saw the special news broadcast about the note. Maxwell had no doubt that was what was changed! Something like that was very out-of-character for High President Marth. The reason Maxwell had chosen him long ago was exactly so he wouldn't do something like this!

All he had to do to resolve this was to confiscate the note, and wipe the memory of everyone who's seen it. Which was... the entire city.

Even for a man of Maxwell's talents, that was not a likely prospect. No, the best way to nip this in the bud would be to cut it off at the source. Which would mean making President Marth declare the note counterfeit. No, that's much too complicated, and even if you manipulated his mind, that had the risk of alerting his loved ones. The much easier solution would be to make a counterfeit 'chip' and deliver it into the hands of a worthy successor of the reins of Smash Kingdom.

Oh no. nononononononono. In all of Maxwell's planning, he forgot to deal with the fact that someone may find Multiversal Internetworking System #3. That must be the chip that _it_ was referencing in the note. If some ignorant treasure-seeking buffoon were to destroy it, that would allow _it_ to gain a foothold in this world, and what has happened before would happen again. Maxwell would never allow that to happen. Quickly preparing Quantum-Dimension-Letters with his reasoning and the location of Multiversal Internetworking System #3, he sends them to Simon, Gann, and Break with orders to protect it at all costs. With that out of the way, Maxwell begins work on the counterfeit chip, and brainstorming who he will elevate to the rank of High President.

11:00 PM

* * *

Lucina had cold feet. Both figuratively and literally. She huddles under a blanket outside of the library, but since most of that is used up covering her laptop, her lower legs are exposed, and her cheap sweatpants and bunny slippers do nothing to alleviate the chilling wind. Well, she thinks its wind, as she feels it, but she hasn't been able to hear at all since the coffee shop. She has been lucky to have minor, grazing wounds, but luck won't allow her to kill her target. The coffee shop incident was a small nuisance, but with dedication, she has made up for lost time.

Robin Sterling, roommate to Chrom Ylisse, studying at the Smash City Community College, living in Dormitory 20, room 12, both studying to become police officers. In an ideal world, Lucina could have found a quick, painless way to murder him, but this wasn't a perfect world. In a perfect world, she wouldn't have had to grow up in hell. In a perfect world, she wouldn't have had to watch her only friends get brutalized.

In the back of her head, she thinks that she should have had a panic attack by now. After all, her last one was when she remembered Inigo, and...Owain, and….what's her name….Severa! Lucina was forgetting them, and not just their names. All her experiences growing up were riddled with uncertainty and plain forgetfulness. It was the same with her other memories too, now that Lucina checked. She frowns, if she forgot her mission before it was accomplished...no, it wouldn't come to that. She closes her laptop. Her timetable has just been moved up. She takes out the Falchion. _Father, forgive me for what I'm about to do._

11:00 PM

* * *

Rock was glad he had a nice warm bed. Of course, he wasn't in it at the moment, but he was glad he had it. Watching cartoons at 11:00 PM wasn't the best way to spend ones night, but Rock wasn't exactly the paradigm of health. Rock hasn't really slept since the coffee shop incident. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees Orange's lifeless body in Ridley's hand and the broken cop. Ness had tried calling him, but Rock just ignores the doesn't need to talk. He can get through this on his own. In fact, the only people that Rock communicated with since was his sister, and even then only sparingly. Dad and Blues were off at their separate jobs, and Roll had already gone to bed.

For the fifth time that night, Rock finds himself thinking of the random blue-haired girl. Who was she? Why did no one notice her? Was that a legit sword she used? Rock's pathetic attempts at distracting himself are interrupted by a knock at the door. He might as well check it, as he doesn't have anything better to do.

"Who are you?" Rock demanded. It was some random blonde in a red sweatshirt. Whatever, the faster he got this over with, the faster he could get back to watching _Tomodachi Guy_.

"Excuse me, I'm a doctor from the Smash Hospital ER, Shulk Howden. I..uh..was the doctor who was trying to treat Orange Ink when she..uhhhh..expired. I'd like to ask you-" Despite the fact that Shulk was presumably old enough to have a real job, Rock was not impressed. His youthful-looking face, unkempt appearance and British accent did not help his first impression of this timid, awkward 'doctor'.

"Look I don't know anything. I'm just a kid that was in the wrong place in the wrong time. Good. Night." Rock curtly replies, and slams the door before Shulk could ask any questions. He was not the first to ask about Rock's 'experience', and Rock was not in the mood to relive the worst day of his life. Shulk would just have to live the fact that sometimes life doesn't resolve all of it's problems.

Strangely, watching _Tomodachi Guy_ does not end Rock's thoughts on Shulk. He wondered why he chose Rock to talk to instead of literally anyone else. According to Rock's medical file, him and Orange had entirely different symptoms. The only thing they had in common was the time of arrival. So why would Shulk associate the two?

Some random WarioCorp commercial about golden computer chips is on, so Rock opens a window to clear his head. It did, but also made him hear a familiar British accent.

"I'm sorry, what did you just ask me?" Rock hears Shulk incredulously ask. Rock has a sneaking suspicion of why Shulk would be talking in an alleyway by Rocks apartment building, and it's not anything good. Please don't be Bowser Jr,. Please don't be Bowser Jr,. Please don't be Bowser Jr,. Please don't be-

"I asked ya to hand over your, uh, stuff if you wanna keep living!" A familiar high-pitched, raspy voice rings out. Its Bowser Jr., the bully who lives in the above the Light Family's apartment. They've bullied all the kids, but were relatively harmless. They don't look harmless from Rock's view in the window. They've cornered Shulk in an alleyway and are packing a nasty assortment of hammers and baseball bats.

Rock honestly had no idea how to react to this situation, or if he even _could_ react. Fortunately for Shulk, a challenger approaches. A eerie tune whistles through the air. Rock's eyes widen, It's Blues! But Blues isn't the strongest physically, he needs help! He rushes out the door, hoping that there's still time.

* * *

"Going from name-calling to armed assault? That escalated quickly, don't you think, Junior?" Blues asks, in the most infuriating, patronizing, tone possible. And his full name is Bowser Junior, darn it!. He hates the nickname so much, which is why exactly that darn Blues uses it. But still, Blues is all talk. He's had a crippling disease since birth that makes him much weaker and have less energy. He won't be a problem. Bowser Jr. gestures to Iggy and Lemmy to take Blues out. They can't let Blues get in the way of the mission. _**She**_ would be disappointed in them if they fail.

"Give us the thing!" He yells at the blonde wimp. Or tries to yell(His voice is still sore after the hot tub incident)

"What thing?" Blondie seems to have stop being scared and started being confused. It looks like Bowser Junior has to spell it out for this dummy.

"You know, the Monando-the Mondo-the Mona-the thing!" He screams. He's mad now. He bet Blondie did this on purpose, playing stupid to make Bowser Junior mispronounce the complicated word in order to make him look bad! Well guess what! Bowser Junior is gonna make Blondie's face look bad!

"Wait, you know about the Monado? How?" Blues wonders aloud. He's already knocked out Iggy and Lemmy?! How?! Its darn near impossible to find competent help! Bowser Junior turns towards Blues and readies his hammer. He's not going to dignify that smart-mouth with a response.

Bowser Junior charges at Blues legs, and barely misses. He keeps up the attack and Blues starts falling back in order to dodge, eventually tripping. Serves him right! Bowser Junior has him right where he wants him. He jumps in the air ready to bring it down, when Blues grabs a trash can lid of the ground and holds it in front of him. The hammer comes down with a crash and the lid wobbles, tearing Bowser Junior's hammer out if his hands. He's still won this round, though. That simple, barely-a-fight has left Blues exhausted and panting. Bowser Junior's already won, that dummy just doesn't know it yet.

* * *

Rock runs down the stairs in record time and tears open the door. He hasn't even put on shoes! He can take it. Blues can't take a hammer to the face though. As he skids into the alleyway he notices that most of Junior's gang is swarming Blues who is miraculously still standing. He's leaning on the wall, trying to bat away attacks with a garbage can lid. Rock picks up a baseball bat from one of the two unconscious ones and enters the fray. At first he's on the defensive, just trying to draw attention away from Blues. Rock doesn't want to kill anyone after all.

Then Rock accidentally smacks the star-eye one upside the head with his bat. He doesn't seemed fazed at all! What. The. H****. After that they all turn their focus on Rock, the imminent threat .Rock stops holding back. He uses every dirty trick in his repertoire, not that it does anything. What are these kids made out of? They don't seem to bleed, or take any damage whatsoever. Thankfully, the big star-eyed one was the only one to be completely invulnerable, as a good swipe from the bat hits them back a bit, knocking them out. Hopefully it doesn't do any real damage. Soon, Star-eye is the only one left standing, letting out a rage filled bellow that is thankfully cut short by Blues smacking him on the head with his lid. Rock notices a strange white glove on Blues' left hand that isn't part of his style or McWario's uniform. Rock makes a note to ask about it later, along with how Blues got so strong; but for know, there's Shulk to worry about.

"You alright, mister?" Blues asks. Rock wanted to lead the interview, but arguing would make the brothers look bad. Maybe Rock can ask Shulk about it later.

"I'm fine, Thank you, mister-?

"Blues."

"I'm Shulk. Shulk Howden. Uh..this is kind of awkward, but what do you know about the Monado thing? I've been having these kind of..dreams that-"

"Hahaha, suckers! I'm going to call the cops on you! Let's see how heroic you look when you beat up a bunch of _children_! Hahhaha!" Wait, Bowser Jr is still awake? Come to think of it, the rest of the gang is starting to groan and wake up. One thing's for sure, Rock can't let Bowser Jr. call the police. This situation is weird enough without legal intervention.

On an impulse he picks up a hammer from the ground. Bowser Jr. notices and starts running away. There's no way Rock can catch up to him. But maybe...Rock on impulse throws the hammer, and suddenly he knows exactly how to hold it, the stance, the amount of force needed, everything. The hammer sails through the air in an arc on smacks Bowser Jr's phone, shattering it.

How did Rock know that? He was a fast learner, but nothing like this. More importantly, the same hand the Rock had the incredible transforming pain in was now tingling. Because of course it is.

"Rock, Shulk, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve to get caught in the middle of this. Right now, I'm needed elsewhere but I promise I'll explain later." Blues explains, and before Rock can react, Blues is engulfed in light, which shrinks into a small beam that rockets into the sky.

"So," Rock begins, turning to Shulk, "You wanna talk about this over some _Tomodachi Guy_?"

* * *

I actually finished it. No legit excuses this time, I just hit a real roadblock writing Rock's sections, and of course school isn't helping.

Well, as always, a hearty thank you to everyone who favorited and followed!

I'll see you next chapter!

-Adrael out.


	5. Chapter 4: Acceleration

Arc 1: Familiar Faces

Chapter 4: Acceleration

3 Days after Chaos Containment Breach (Altea's Letter)

* * *

5:00 AM

Robin Birdsnest is no stranger to being stalked. After all, Tharja stalked him for almost the entirety of freshman year because she thought he looked like the Latter-Day Church of Grima's founder, Grima Sterling. Hopefully, that's not the case with the blue-haired chick trailing him through Smash City Central Park, which is in itself strange, as the only bluenettes Robin knows of are Chrom and High-President Marth. Her clothing is even stranger, as she was decked out in a trenchcoat, a heavy metal band t-shirt, bright green jeans, and bunny slippers. Robin almost walks over to talk to her, because he's never seen her in his life, and really, who wears stuff like that?

"Hey, Robin! You study for that Lit test today? I kinda..forgot. Yeah, let's go with that." The guy running out in a hot pink bath robe, Chrom Lowell, is Robin's best friend and soon-to-be police officer. That's what Chrom calls himself even though he still has 1 year left of college. He's understandably eager, as his older sister, Emmeryn, is already in the force and in fact the police commisioner, and his younger sister is in the exact same class as him.

"Chrom, I can't bail you out all the time, but yeah, I have the notes about the upcoming Literature test. Also, its scheduledto be next week. Why are you so worried about it that you ran out wearing...that? It's Lisssa's pranks, isn't it?"

"Grima damn it Lissa!" Chrom yells before rushing back to his dorm, drawing some weird looks from the early morning crowd. Chrom is lucky that his and Robin's dorm is in front of the Park, or Chrom would have humiliated himself even more due to the coffee crowds. Lissa's pranks were starting to get more elaborate over time, but this one was relatively simple.

After the only Wariobucks in the area was closed after the incident, people started waking up earlier to get coffee from the McWario's across town. Robin thought that waking up earlier kind of defeated the point of coffee, but he didn't judge.

After that incident with Chrom, Robin's thoughts wandered back to his blue-haired follower, who gave him a start when he realized she disappeared. Not walked out of campus' central square. Not quietly hiding in the background. She just up and disappeared into thin air, and now Robin noticed, he noticed a few gaps in the crowd that were getting closer to him. A coincidence, or something else? Robin doesn't consider himself a superstitious man, but he's the first to admit something is off about this whole situation.

Robin is supposed to be in Math class right about now, but he can catch up later. For now, perhaps it's best if he goes off the radar for now. He nonchalantly meanders towards the Merric Lowell Department of Aerial Science and Research while texting Chrom he may not see him for the next couple days. He then chucks his phone into the bushes, so whoever-it-is can't track him. Being relatively untrackable is worth more than a phone, something Robin has learned the hard way. Shouldering his bag, he cuts through a patch of bushes and starts running.

He sighs. Time to go on the run again. This brings back memories, mostly bad memories, but memories all the same. It's just for a couple days. You don't even know that anyone is really after you! He thinks, trying to reassure himself. It fails, but it's either this or get caught by a ghost girl with horrible fashion sense, and Robin knows in a heartbeat which one he's choosing.

* * *

5:10 AM

This did not just happen. Lucina's target did not decide to just leave. Lucina spent countless hours researching his schedule, and she concluded that he was a meticulous intellectual who valued education above most other things. Therefore, it wouldn't be too hard to take him out while he was at a class. It wasn't much of a plan, but making anything better would take time, and with every passing hour, more of Lucina was slipping away. For crying out loud, she couldn't remember the face of Severa, her best friend, or Inigo, her...friend? Or...the really dramatic guy? She couldn't even remember his name now. Some leader she was.

If she wanted to give her companions the future they deserved, she needed to neutralize her target and change the future. Easier said than done, since apparently the future has preservation instincts. Her target had looked at her, which shouldn't have been possible, as she wasn't drawing attention to herself, which is the only way people can perceive her, or something. Lucina isn't a scientist on the effects of time travel, Naga darn it!

Now she had to track down her target, who faded into the crowd as soon as Lucina began muscling through crowd in the hopes of reaching him. He's most likely left the park by now. If he has a grain of sense, he'll have changed his clothes by now, so Lucina can't even see him in the crowd, let alone kill him. Maybe after some time he'll return to his dorm room, so if Lucina waits there, maybe there will be an opportunity. She sighs. She doesn't know enough about the city layout to go on a manhunt, so this is her only choice. The end will have to wait a little longer.

* * *

6:00 AM

Bowser Jr crawls through his open bedroom window into his room. He'd like to use the front door, but he's technically supposed to be asleep, and old Mr Kamek is going to give him a lecture, and then his bedroom door is going to be locked, and he won't be able to talk to _her,_ and then _she_ is going to get angry-No, don't think about that. He's done this plenty of times before, and he's never been loud enough to wake Mr. Kamek, but then he's never been beaten by that wimp Rock, either. Bowser Jr's terrified stream of thought ruins any hope of doing this bravely. The only reason he hasn't tripped tripped up Koopa Estate's security by now is pure muscle memory, and a lot of luck.

After entering his room, he sneaks through Koopa Mansion. The normally clean, orderly, boring house has been draped in shadow. It wouldn't be so bad if he was running back to his bed, but he was sneaking away from his bed, and towards _her_ , and if Mr Kamek catches him he's definitely going to be punished. Bowser Jr's thoughts aren't exactly doing calming him down. He's actually getting more scared! Just stop thinking, he's talked to _her_ before, probably nothing's going to happen, right?

He almost gives up, but then he thinks about how angry _she'll_ be, and he...he's here. The big basement of Koopa Mansion, filled with boxes and boxes of stuff. Chancellor Dad bought a lot of this cool stuff, but Mr Kamek made him put a lot of it back because "that Fawful statue made entirely out of beans completely ruins the feng shui of the house" and Chancellor Dad would argue with Mr Kamek, and Mr Kamek would bring up how he's basically Chancellor Dad's dad, and Chancellor Dad would give up and put the thing in the basement forever. That was how Bowser Jr found _her_ in the first place.

He had been exploring the basement when he was supposed to be asleep to try and find something cool, and he found this weird mirror covered in a sheet. It was gold, and decorated with stars and wings. It didn't look like the kind of thing Chancellor Dad or Mr Kamek would buy. But when Bowser Jr looked into it, _she_ looked back. _She_ had seemed nice at first, sending him on fun missions, like epically pranking Mr Kamek, or stealing Mr Mario's hat or tools, and stuff. It was stuff that Bowser Jr, probably would have done anyway, but it was so nice to be praised for the stuff he did, for once. It was little bit like having a mom, he guessed. He enjoyed it so much, he showed the mirror to Lemmy(the least annoying of his siblings). The rest kind of happened gradually. He didn't know why, but once he showed the mirror to the rest of his sibling, _she_ started becoming a little meaner, the missions became a little harder, and before he knew it, _she_ was yelling at them 24/7, sending them on missions to actually kill someone! Thankfully, it wasn't anyone Bowser Jr. actually liked(he didn't like anybody), only some random boring doctor. But still, they had to kill someone! Everyone was more scared of her than the law, so they stalked down Doctor Shulk and had cornered him, until that party pooper Blues showed up! Bowser Jr hated Blues' stuck-up, snarky attitude, and that was without him getting in the way of _her_ schemes.

Bowser Jr stopped mentally roasting Blues when he stopped in front of the mirror. He gulped. It was time. He saw his reflection in it, as usual, and also like normal, it changed. The reflection's colors started getting dimmer, and once it was all dark, the reflection/shadow-thing's shape changed, getting taller, skinnier, and vaguely human-shaped with some weird crown-shape sprouting out of its 'head'.

"G-Greetings, my Queen."

 _Judging from the lack of your companions, you have failed, minion._

She spoke directly into his head. Bowser Jr knew this because once he had tried to to shut his ears against her, and _she_ had somehow gotten _louder._

 _It seems you have wasted the power I bestowed upon you and your companions. There will be consequences, ones that you will find extremely...unpleasant._

"I-It wasn't my fault, my Queen. M-m-my...sibl-..er...minions...are really dumb, and the unexpected showing up of Blues didn't help-

 _SILENCE! I do not wish to hear your insipid excuses. If you truly wish to earn my favor again, then you will accept my gift. The gift...of your final Awakening._

Well, that doesn't sound so bad, Bowser Jr. thought.

 _Hold still. This won't hurt a bit. It will hurt a LOT. And let this be a taste of your punishment if you fail me again. Now GO my swarms of doom! And conquer minds! Conquer worlds! Conquer, In the name of your mother, the_ _ **Core Queen!**_

After that extremely ominous statement, some kind of….thing starts oozing out of the edges of the mirror. As it got closer, Bowser Jr sees that it looks like, some kind of swarm of bugs. Well, that's no good. Besides _her_ , bugs are his greatest fear! And yet, he can't run away. He doesn't know if its because he's too scared of _her_ or if he's being mind controlled, but the bugs get closer, and closer, and closer.

Then they start crawling on him, and they're _cold_ , colder than anything he's ever felt, and he's already pretty uncomfortable, but then they start biting him, and its **AAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAA** THEWORST **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA** HURTS **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA** COVERINGME **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA** NONONONONO **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA** NO **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA** PLEASE **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**

* * *

7:00 AM

Maxwell has spent enough time in the hibernation pod. Now is the time for action. Simon and Gann are protecting Multiversal Internetworking System #3, and the Proto-Man is searching for High President Altea. Wouldn't do to cause an international incident by the absence of a country's leader! The only thing left in Maxwell's master plan is to obtain the false chip and give it to his soon-to-be puppet. Chrom Lowell. He's a good kid, not the brightest, he should be easy to manipulate once the weird Sterling kid is out of the way.

But one thing at a time, after all. He pulls out his dinky little flip-phone, and sighs. Once he had the power of creation and order at his fingertips, and now he has to use this...thing to contact quite possibly the slimiest man in all of Smash Kingdom.

"Hello Mr Wario. I would like to discuss the manufacturing of a, shall we say, specific, product." Maxwell opened the conversation. Best to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Who the Hades are you?! How did you get this number?! I can have you arrested for wasting my time, you-"

"There's no need for that Mr Wario. My employer will compensate you handsomely, in exchange for a worthless trinket."

"We-e-e-ell, that's quite a different story, Mr, uh, I didn't catch your name?" Maxwell's patience is running out already, and it hasn't even been a minute.

"I work for the government. And that is all you need to know. Your money will be wired to you shortly after this transaction is concluded, 1.5 million G, minus 100 thousand for every unnecessary question that you ask."

"Wa-hahaha! Now that's what I like to hear! Now, about this so-called trinket…"

Maxell can hear the greed dripping off Wario's tongue, but WarioCorps has some of, not the best fabrication laboratories on the world. So far, Wario has been acting exactly as predicted by Maxwell's plan, and he hates it. But if Maxwell is going to obtain a passable MIS#3 chip replica, it has to be from WarioCorp. Sucking up his contempt, he begins listing the characteristics that will determine the success or failure of his plan."Now listen closely, as I will only say this once. You will make a replica computer chip made with a base of pure graphite, laminated for extra durability, with 3 strips of polished copper on the top, and a green substance that glows with 0.8 lumens that will…"

* * *

8:00 AM

Wario is not an idiot. After that uptight government goon asked for a suspiciously specific computer chip, Wario fins himself with an...interesting dilemma. No, not whether to make it or not, Wario would have to be an idiot _not_ to make it! The dilemma falls whether to mass produce it and distribute it to the public. It's obvious the chip is meant to be Altea's chip gambit, and its also obvious that the government does not want more than one chip in the civilian population.

Hmmm, what if Wario used this fake chip to become the High President? High President Wario has a very nice ring to it, doesn't it? But Wario knows about governing jobs, and he's not heading down that slippery slope.

No, it's much better to have some of Ashley's underground contacts 'accidentally' obtain a shipment of these chips, than Wario would have no responsibility for the use of them, and he would have the governments money, and the money of the chiphunters. After all, it worked before with Wario selling his new Model Gold computer chips, so why wouldn't it work again? This brings a dirty grin to Wario's face. There's nothing like the smell of new schemes in the morning. And coffee and donuts, of course.

* * *

?:? ?

Shulk is chilling on Rock's couch as they discuss whatever the Hades happened with Rock's brother. To be honest, Shulk is zoned out most of it, as he doesn't really know Blues and he hasn't gotten a good night's sleep in months because of the nightmares. That probably explains why most of the day has been a blur to him.

It doesn't explain the Colony 9 garb Shulk is wearing. He frowns, wondering where it came from? What's a Colony 9? Instead of his usual red sweatshirt, he's wearing this mini-jacket...thing, with a black sweater and matching shorts and boots. And they're all muddy and smell like they haven't been washed in a month. Rock doesn't seem to notice, though.

Speaking of Rock, he's been blabbering on for a while now, and for the short time Shulk has known him, that seems slightly out of character for the child. But it's probably interesting, if Shulk could understand any of it. Shulk squints. Wait, isn't Rock speaking Smash Kingdom Basic? After straining his ears, Shulk decides that he is, and yet he can't understand a word Rock says.

That's the final straw. The clothes, and now this have convinced Shulk that this is a dream, or vision, or nightmare, or whatever it's called. All Shulk knows is that this is probably a portent for the future, and Shulk is going to die horribly later. Ah well, there's nothing to be done. Might as well memorize as many details as possible before the end.

Walking past the still babbling Rock, Shulk decides to watch some TV and see some current events. Flipping past frivolous channels like "Tidying Up with Isabelle Shizue", "Super Chaos Chrystals Z and Knuckles", and some random ringside wrestling post-match interview. Finally, Shulk finds some breaking news. A couple, actually.

The first is some Gerudo guy found President Altea's chip, broke it and is now delivering his High President inauguration speech. Something seems off about this whole situation, like everyone is missing some piece of vital information, but Shulk is used to this feeling. It crops up all the time in his life so far, so he ignores it.

The second and more interesting, is the arrest of former interdimensional scientist Thomas Light. Apparently, he was found with some unconscious blue haired girl, and everyone just assumed the worst. Some white-suited guy says that he meddled in an interdimensional incident. Light claims he's trying to save her life even as he's being dragged away by the police. Shulk wants to listen to more, but then a...creature explodes through Rock's apartment door.

Literally explodes, there's this strange purple fire everywhere, and in the middle of it, is some kind of reptilian thing. It's growling, and Shulk can see a glimpse of glistening teeth. He's never seen anything like it before, and on one hand he kind of wants to study it, but on the other he wants to run for his life. Rock has clearly decided which one he wants to do breaking out of his daze and sprinting for the fire escape.

The thing's mouth(?) opened and shot a fireball at Shulk, who snapped out of his daze and dove to the floor Unfortunately, a small apartment living room is not the best place for parkour, and Shulk smacked his head on the leg of the coffee table. Before he has time to shake off the stinging pain, he smelled the scent of burning carpet and flesh. He tries to get up before the pain of his body roasting registers and he falls again, writhing as his skin is melted off and he's cooked alive. He finally mercifully falls unconscious, never to wake again.

* * *

10:00 AM

Shulk wakes up from Rock's couch with a shout, then falls silent as he simply relishes the sensation of not burning alive. Ohh, intact skin feels GREAT! Now, what the actual Hades was that? He hasn't had a dream like that in weeks! Well technically, he hasn't slept in weeks but that doesn't matter. He and Rock need to get out of here ASAP! Speaking of Rock, where is he?

His question is swiftly granted when he sees Rock putting on a jacket and opening the front door.

"Oh, hey Shulk. Apparently Roll finished the food before she went to school, so I was going to go buy some more. I didn't want to wake you up, and I didn't want you to wake up alone in a unfamiliar place, so now that you're up, I'll just get going now…" Rock mentions out before heading out the door.

"Rock, wait. We need to leave. Now." Shulk blurts out.

Rock looks confused for a second and asks for clarification. "Like..going to the store together? That seems kinda weird."

"No, I mean leaving your house for a while. There's something after us, and it's going to break into your apartment." Shulk says, and he can physically feel Rock's opinion of him dropping

"Oh really, that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Y'know, I cut you some slack because of the whole Junior thing, but you're sounding either really creepy or clinically insane, and I don't want any of that around my family."

"NO, wait, I can explain. You see, a couple of months ago I had these suspiciously vivid dreams that seemed to predict the future. The amount of time between the dream and the event varied, but it happened every time. Until I dreamed that I was dismembered and murdered in my own bed by a morbidly underweight man with a dirty purple mohawk. Then I left. The dream couldn't happen if I wasn't in my bed. But the dreams got worse. Then the coffee shop incident happened. Then the orange girl died. And I had more dreams. And they got worse. I started living on the streets to avoid the assassins. Then I realized that you might have some answers, and well...you know the rest. But I had a dream tonight, some kind of fire-breathing reptilian thing is going to bust in here and murder everyone." Shulk isn't much of a gambler, but he's losing Rock, and he needs something better to convince him. Glancing at one of the pictures on the wall gives him an idea for one last try.

"WAIT! I'll tell you something I saw in my dream. It was your father. He used to be a robotics scientist, but that was just a cover-up, wasn't it? He was actually a dimensional scientist!" Shulk waits with bated breath. He doesn't know for sure if its true or if the studies of Thomas Light are common knowledge, or even if Rock knows the truth about his father. There are so many things that could go wrong, but for once, it seems that Palutena smiles on Shulk, as Rock sits down, stunned.

"How? How did you know that? He didn't even tell me. Blues did. Dad kept this a secret for my entire life! So how did you know that!?"

* * *

Rock feels horrible, with this encounter dredging up the events of the past couple days and compounding his previous horrible mental state. For a while, Rock's world was determined by rules. Social customs and norms, the laws of physics, etcetera, etcetera.

But now, the President is choosing his successor with some kind of _game_. A man became some kind of monster of metal and machinery in the span of a couple seconds. And now some guy Rock met yesterday apparently can predict the future and has access to information he shouldn't, and has been doing it for months. MONTHS!  
But Rock is resilient. He survived Dad losing his first job at the M. Hand Nervous System Research Center and he and Roll do their best to avoid making extra work for Dad and Blues. He can survive this.

If he wants to keep surviving, though, he'll need to take action. He moves to gather up the family pets, when the front door explodes in an inferno of purple fire. That technically shouldn't be possible, but its nothing compared to what Rock's seen before, also HE'S IN MORTAL DANGER MOVEMOVEMOVE.!  
He weaves under a fireball and darts toward the fire escape. He tries to shout to Shulk but he coughs instead. Apparently there's not a lot of air to breath when the flames are burning it away. Shulk doesn't need any prompting, diving away from a fireball. Rock stops watching Shulk's acrobatics and starts fiddling with the window latch. Was it always this finicky? It hurts to breathe now, the air is so hot.

Shulk gestures for Rock to step away from the window, and he wraps his jacket around his fist before smashing it on the edges. As he clears broken glass away from the window, Rock notices the thing fushing at Shulk. Before he can think, Rock steps in front of Shulk and braces for impact.

The thing lunges. Rock tries to bat it away with his hand but it chomps down _hard_. _It hurtssssss. This is uncomfortably like the coffee shop. Rock won't let that happen again. He won'ttttttt_ _ **ttttttt.**_ A flash of orange and heat erupts from Rock's entrapped hand, and the thing goes flying back. His hand has mostly stopped hurting, but looks normal, except for the massive teeth marks. What was that energy? Rock stops wondering and starts focusing on the very real danger of fiery death.

Shulk has finished the window and is climbing out. Rock keeps an eye on the creature, which is starting to twitch. The heat in the apartment is unbearable, Rock needs to get out! He practically shoves Shulk out of the window and falls onto the cool grate of the fire escape. He could just rest...he's so tired...no. He and Shulk need to get to safety. Shulk has undone the ladder and is climbing down. Rock follows and hops to the ground early. He just wants to get out of here. He definitely doesn't want to think about how his arm is probably going to be infected.

The good news is Rock doesn't have to think about those things. The bad news is he does have to think about how to escape the man who just stepped into the alley, the man who changed Rock's life forever, the man who _killed Orange_ -

"Hey all of you, put your hands up NOW!" Who's that? Rock glances past Ridley(How does he have his skin back?) and sees the blonde police officer from the coffee shop. Then, because the universe doesn't already hate Rock enough, the thing that started burning down lands in the alley with a thunderous CRACK! Rock hears the telltale sound of fire alarms and hopes someone called the fire department, because Rock and Shulk are going to be a little bit occupied…

* * *

Ugh, this chapter was a doozy. Unfortunately, the next chapter will probably take as long to upload, but please stay with me. I have big plans for this little story. In slightly less depressing news, I decided to make some character bios to keep people from losing track of so many characters, and I am going to add a _lot_ of characters. Anyway, here are the bios were inspired by the ones in Naryfiel Lilith's _A Thief's Legacy_. That work probably inspired me to start writing fanfinction in general. Here they are!

Lucina: An awkward girl who'll do whatever it takes to change her friend's terrible fate. There are no lengths she won't go to to fulfill her mission. Also has been having some weird headaches. _Status-c2qgr97q92_

Pit: A kind-hearted and eager boy just trying to find his way in the world, but the one thing he wants in the world is to see his brother again. _Status-Pure_

Dark Pit: A cynical but resilient boy trying to survive. Deeply resents his brother and doesn't want to see him ever again. _Status-Pure_

Rock: The son of a former doctor who tries his best to support the family despite being a minor. Is a little...peculiar for his age. But beneath his exterior lies the heart of a child, which Rock is. A child, that is. Not sure where I was going with that. _Status-Deawakened_

Samus: A hard as nails cop who is taking the defeat and capture of her partner pretty hard. Takes no bullexcrement from anyone. _Status-Pure_

Shulk: A normal, nice, approachable guy. Except for his nightmarish visions of his brutal deaths. He also has the nagging feeling that something is wrong with...everything. _Status-Chained_

Maxwell: The self-appointed guardian of this fledgeling universe. Will stop at nothing to prevent the tragedy of the Core. _Status-Classified_

Zelda: The Hon. Vice President of the Smash Kingdom, who is trying to find the missing High President in order to avert a national crisis. Responsible and business-like, she also has a mischievous side, which is not showing up due to the aforementioned national crisis. _Status-Pure_

Ike: The resident grump of the Smash City Police Department. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, and bitingly indifferent to his enemies. Does not think much of politicians or business-people. _Status-Pure_

Robin: An intellectual young man with a mysterious past. Is friendly, and is good at befriending people. Is horrible at cooking. _Status-Pure_

Bowser Jr.: The spoiled, brash, and immature heir to the Bowser business empire. Has no business experience, and is only a little smarter. _Status-Awoken/Corrupted_

Blues: Rock's cool older brother. Unfazed by almost anything, including taking extra jobs to support his family. Is annoyingly adept at being secretive. _Status-Classified_

Oh and because I want to add more information on the World of Reset, I'll be inserting some mildly plot relevant info in here. Don't worry, I'll mark new or changed entries so you won't miss anything!

Well, loyal readers, I'd say see you soon, but I'm a pathetic lazy piece of crap and probably won't finish the next chapter soon and I'm really sorry.

-Adrael out.


End file.
